1.
French Revolutionary War
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The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of sweeping military conflicts, lasting from 1792 until 1802, resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted the French First Republic against Britain, Austria and several other monarchies and they are divided in two periods, the War of the First Coalition and the War of the Second Coalition. Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension as the political ambitions of the Revolution expanded, French success in these conflicts ensured the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe. The Revolutionary Wars began from increasing political pressure on King Louis XVI of France to prove his loyalty to the new direction France was taking. In the spring of 1792, France declared war on Prussia and Austria, the victory rejuvenated the French nation and emboldened the National Convention to abolish the monarchy. A series of victories by the new French armies abruptly ended with defeat at Neerwinden in the spring of 1793, by 1795, the French had captured the Austrian Netherlands and knocked Spain and Prussia out of the war with the Peace of Basel. A hitherto unknown general called Napoleon Bonaparte began his first campaign in Italy in April 1796, in less than a year, French armies under Napoleon decimated the Habsburg forces and evicted them from the Italian peninsula, winning almost every battle and capturing 150,000 prisoners. With French forces marching towards Vienna, the Austrians sued for peace and agreed to the Treaty of Campo Formio, the War of the Second Coalition began with the French invasion of Egypt, headed by Napoleon, in 1798. The Allies took the opportunity presented by the French strategic effort in the Middle East to regain territories lost from the First Coalition. The war began well for the Allies in Europe, where they pushed the French out of Italy and invaded Switzerland—racking up victories at Magnano, Cassano. However, their efforts largely unraveled with the French victory at Zurich in September 1799, meanwhile, Napoleons forces annihilated a series of Egyptian and Ottoman armies at the battles of the Pyramids, Mount Tabor, and Abukir. These victories and the conquest of Egypt further enhanced Napoleons popularity back in France, however, the Royal Navy had managed to inflict a humiliating defeat on the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, further strengthening British control of the Mediterranean. Napoleons arrival from Egypt led to the fall of the Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon then reorganized the French army and launched a new assault against the Austrians in Italy during the spring of 1800. This latest effort culminated in a decisive French victory at the Battle of Marengo in June 1800, another crushing French triumph at Hohenlinden in Bavaria forced the Austrians to seek peace for a second time, leading to the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801. With Austria and Russia out of the war, the United Kingdom found itself increasingly isolated and agreed to the Treaty of Amiens with Napoleons government in 1802, concluding the Revolutionary Wars. The lingering tensions proved too difficult to contain, however, in 1789–1792, the entire governmental structure of France was transformed to fall into line with the Revolutionary principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. As a result, one of the first major elements of the French state to be restructured was the army, the transformation of the army was best seen in the officer corps. Before the revolution 90% had been nobility, compared to only 3% in 1794, Revolutionary fervour was high, and was closely monitored by the Committee of Public Safety, which assigned Representatives on Mission to keep watch on generals
2.
Amberg
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Amberg is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate, roughly halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth, in 2013, over 41,000 people lived in the town. The town was first mentioned in 1034, at that time under the name Ammenberg and it became an important trading centre in the Middle Ages, exporting mainly iron ore and iron products. In 1269, together with Bamberg, the town became subordinate to the Wittelsbach dynasty that ruled Bavaria, in 1329 the town and the entire Upper Palatinate fell to a branch line of the Wittelsbach family and was no longer part of the duchy of Bavaria. Although in geographic terms it was regarded as Bavarian and the region was part of the Bavarian circle in the organization of the Imperial Circles, the rulers of Upper Palatinate were open-minded towards Protestantism. In the 16th century the town turned to Lutheranism, but attempts of the family to introduce the more radical Calvinism failed due to the reluctance of its citizens. In 1628 Amberg and Upper Palatinate became part of the electorate of Bavaria, the inhabitants were given the choice, return to Catholicism or leave the town forever. Many families left the town and fled to the Free Imperial Cities of Regensburg and Nuremberg, Amberg was the regional capital of Upper Palatinate until 1810 when power was transferred to the larger city of Regensburg. After World War II, when Bavaria fell into the American Sector, Amberg was home to Pond Barracks, I. F. Stone writes about it in his book Underground to Palestine. The post was closed in 1992 and the facility turned over to the community for housing. Jews had settled in Amberg before 1294, when the first documentation can be found, shortly after, in 1298, thirteen of the town Jews died during the Rindfleisch massacres. Nevertheless, in 1347 six families received permission to settle in Amberg and twenty years after, in 1367, upon the expulsion, the synagogue was annexed to the nearby church. Twelve Jews remained in town in 1942, the few survivors returned to the town after 1945, and a displaced persons camp named Amberg - located nearby the town - housed mostly Jewish refugees and survivors. As a result of immigration from the former USSR to Germany, a synagogue exists in town nowadays. Other tourist attractions in Amberg include, Market Square, which contains the Gothic town hall and this hill was given its name during the bubonic plague in the Thirty Years War in 1633/4 when the locals beseeched the Virgin Mary to rid them of the plague. The Little Wedding House, claimed by town authorities to be the worlds smallest hotel, built in 1728, the 2 metre wide hotel was sold to young couples for one night to circumvent laws prohibiting marriages between poor people. The town museum includes exhibits on life and industry in Amberg, the history of clothing and works of Michael Mathias Prechtl and houses travelling exhibitions
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
5.
French First Republic
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In the history of France, the First Republic, officially the French Republic, was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First Empire in 1804 under Napoleon, under the Legislative Assembly, which was in power before the proclamation of the First Republic, France was engaged in war with Prussia and Austria. The foreign threat exacerbated Frances political turmoil amid the French Revolution and deepened the passion, in the violence of 10 August 1792, citizens stormed the Tuileries Palace, killing six hundred of the Kings Swiss guards and insisting on the removal of the king. A renewed fear of action prompted further violence, and in the first week of September 1792, mobs of Parisians broke into the citys prisons. This included nobles, clergymen, and political prisoners, but also numerous common criminals, such as prostitutes and petty thieves, many murdered in their cells—raped, stabbed and this became known as the September Massacres. The resulting Convention was founded with the purpose of abolishing the monarchy. The Conventions first act, on 10 August 1792, was to establish the French First Republic, the King, by then a private citizen bearing his family name of Capet, was subsequently put on trial for crimes of high treason starting in December 1792. On 16 January 1793 he was convicted, and on 21 January, throughout the winter of 1792 and spring of 1793, Paris was plagued by food riots and mass hunger. The new Convention did little to remedy the problem until late spring of 1793, despite growing discontent with the National Convention as a ruling body, in June the Convention drafted the Constitution of 1793, which was ratified by popular vote in early August. The Committees laws and policies took the revolution to unprecedented heights, after the arrest and execution of Robespierre in July 1794, the Jacobin club was closed, and the surviving Girondins were reinstated. A year later, the National Convention adopted the Constitution of the Year III and they reestablished freedom of worship, began releasing large numbers of prisoners, and most importantly, initiated elections for a new legislative body. On 3 November 1795, the Directory was established, the period known as the French Consulate began with the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799. Members of the Directory itself planned the coup, indicating clearly the failing power of the Directory, Napoleon Bonaparte was a co-conspirator in the coup, and became head of the government as the First Consul. He would later proclaim himself Emperor of the French, ending the First French Republic and ushering in the French First Empire
6.
Habsburg Monarchy
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The Monarchy was a composite state composed of territories within and outside the Holy Roman Empire, united only in the person of the monarch. The dynastic capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, from 1804 to 1867 the Habsburg Monarchy was formally unified as the Austrian Empire, and from 1867 to 1918 as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The two entities were never coterminous, as the Habsburg Monarchy covered many lands beyond the Holy Roman Empire, the monarchy had no official name. The entity had no official name, Austrian Empire, This was the official name. Note that the German version is Kaisertum Österreich, i. e. the English translation empire refers to a territory ruled by an emperor, Austria-Hungary, This was the official name. An unofficial popular name was the Danubian Monarchy also often used was the term Doppel-Monarchie meaning two states under one crowned ruler, Crownlands or crown lands, This is the name of all the individual parts of the Austrian Empire, and then of Austria-Hungary from 1867 on. The Hungarian parts of the Empire were called Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen or Lands of Holy Stephens Crown, the Bohemian Lands were called Lands of the St. Wenceslaus Crown. Burgenland came to Austria in 1921 from Hungary, Salzburg finally became Austrian in 1816 after the Napoleonic wars. Vienna, Austrias capital became a state January 1,1922, after being residence, Upper and Lower Austria, historically, were split into Austria above the Enns and Austria below the Enns. Upper Austria was enlarged after the Treaty of Teschen following the War of the Bavarian Succession by the so-called Innviertel, formerly part of Bavaria. Hereditary Lands or German Hereditary Lands or Austrian Hereditary Lands, In a narrower sense these were the original Habsburg Austrian territories, i. e. basically the Austrian lands, in a wider sense the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were also included in the Hereditary lands. The term was replaced by the term Crownlands in the 1849 March Constitution, within the Habsburg Monarchy, each province was governed according to its own particular customs. Until the mid 17th century, not all of the provinces were even necessarily ruled by the same members of the family often ruled portions of the Hereditary Lands as private apanages. An even greater attempt at centralization began in 1849 following the suppression of the revolutions of 1848. For the first time, ministers tried to transform the monarchy into a bureaucratic state ruled from Vienna. The Kingdom of Hungary, in particular, ceased to exist as a separate entity, in this system, the Kingdom of Hungary was given sovereignty and a parliament, with only a personal union and a joint foreign and military policy connecting it to the other Habsburg lands. When Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed, it was not incorporated into either half of the monarchy, instead, it was governed by the joint Ministry of Finance. Austria-Hungary collapsed under the weight of the various unsolved ethnic problems that came to a head with its defeat in World War I, to these were added in 1779 the Inn Quarter of Bavaria, and in 1803 the Bishoprics of Trent and Brixen
7.
Habsburg Austria
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The Monarchy was a composite state composed of territories within and outside the Holy Roman Empire, united only in the person of the monarch. The dynastic capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, from 1804 to 1867 the Habsburg Monarchy was formally unified as the Austrian Empire, and from 1867 to 1918 as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The two entities were never coterminous, as the Habsburg Monarchy covered many lands beyond the Holy Roman Empire, the monarchy had no official name. The entity had no official name, Austrian Empire, This was the official name. Note that the German version is Kaisertum Österreich, i. e. the English translation empire refers to a territory ruled by an emperor, Austria-Hungary, This was the official name. An unofficial popular name was the Danubian Monarchy also often used was the term Doppel-Monarchie meaning two states under one crowned ruler, Crownlands or crown lands, This is the name of all the individual parts of the Austrian Empire, and then of Austria-Hungary from 1867 on. The Hungarian parts of the Empire were called Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen or Lands of Holy Stephens Crown, the Bohemian Lands were called Lands of the St. Wenceslaus Crown. Burgenland came to Austria in 1921 from Hungary, Salzburg finally became Austrian in 1816 after the Napoleonic wars. Vienna, Austrias capital became a state January 1,1922, after being residence, Upper and Lower Austria, historically, were split into Austria above the Enns and Austria below the Enns. Upper Austria was enlarged after the Treaty of Teschen following the War of the Bavarian Succession by the so-called Innviertel, formerly part of Bavaria. Hereditary Lands or German Hereditary Lands or Austrian Hereditary Lands, In a narrower sense these were the original Habsburg Austrian territories, i. e. basically the Austrian lands, in a wider sense the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were also included in the Hereditary lands. The term was replaced by the term Crownlands in the 1849 March Constitution, within the Habsburg Monarchy, each province was governed according to its own particular customs. Until the mid 17th century, not all of the provinces were even necessarily ruled by the same members of the family often ruled portions of the Hereditary Lands as private apanages. An even greater attempt at centralization began in 1849 following the suppression of the revolutions of 1848. For the first time, ministers tried to transform the monarchy into a bureaucratic state ruled from Vienna. The Kingdom of Hungary, in particular, ceased to exist as a separate entity, in this system, the Kingdom of Hungary was given sovereignty and a parliament, with only a personal union and a joint foreign and military policy connecting it to the other Habsburg lands. When Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed, it was not incorporated into either half of the monarchy, instead, it was governed by the joint Ministry of Finance. Austria-Hungary collapsed under the weight of the various unsolved ethnic problems that came to a head with its defeat in World War I, to these were added in 1779 the Inn Quarter of Bavaria, and in 1803 the Bishoprics of Trent and Brixen
8.
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
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Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, 1st Comte Jourdan, enlisted as a private in the French royal army and rose to command armies during the French Revolutionary Wars. Emperor Napoleon I of France named him a Marshal of France in 1804, after 1815, he became reconciled to the Bourbon Restoration. He was one of the most successful commanders of the French Revolutionary Army, born at Limoges, France into a surgeons family, he enlisted in the French royal army in early 1778 when he was not quite sixteen. Assigned to the Regiment of Auxerrois, he participated in the assault at the Siege of Savannah on 9 October 1779 during the American War of Independence. After service in the West Indies, he returned home in 1782 sick with a fever, bouts of illness troubled him for the rest of his life. In 1784 he was discharged from the army and set up a business in Limoges. He married a dressmaker in 1788 and the couple had five daughters, when the National Assembly asked for volunteers, Jourdan was elected Chef de bataillon of the 2nd Haute-Vienne Battalion. He led his troops in the French victory at the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November 1792, Jourdans leadership skills were noticed and led to his promotion to general of brigade on 27 May 1793 and to general of division two months later. On 8 September, he led his division at the Battle of Hondschoote, on 22 September he was named to lead the Army of the North. Three of his predecessors, Nicolas Luckner, Adam Philippe, comte de Custine and his first assignment was to relieve Jacques Ferrands 20, 000-man garrison of Maubeuge which was besieged by an Austrian-Dutch army commanded by Prince Josias of Coburg. The Committee of Public Safety felt that this mission was so important that it dispatched Lazare Carnot to oversee the operation, Jourdan defeated Coburg on 15–16 October at the Battle of Wattignies and broke the siege. Carnot claimed that it was his own intervention that won the victory, historian Michael Glover writes that the first days attack was a failure because of Carnots interference, while the second days success resulted from Jourdan using his own tactical judgment. In any case, only Carnots account reached Paris, on 10 January 1794, after refusing to carry out an impossible order, Jourdan was brought before the Committee of Public Safety. Carnot presented Jourdans arrest warrant, which was signed by Maximilien de Robespierre, Bertrand Barère, Jourdan was saved from certain execution when an eyewitness, Representative-on-mission Ernest Joseph Duquesnoy rose and contradicted Carnots version of events at Wattignies. Spared from arrest, Jourdan was nevertheless dismissed from the army, the government soon recalled Jourdan to lead the Army of the Moselle. In May, he was ordered north with the wing of the Army of the Moselle. This force was combined with the Army of the Ardennes and the wing of the Army of the North to form an army which did not officially become the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse until 29 June 1794. With 70,000 soldiers of the new army, Jourdan laid siege to Charleroi on 12 June, an 41, 000-man Austrian-Dutch army under William V, Prince of Orange defeated the French at the Battle of Lambusart on 16 June and drove them south of the Sambre River
9.
Rhine Campaign of 1796
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After sending large reinforcements to Italy in May, Austria was forced onto the defensive. Both French armies penetrated deeply into southern Germany in August, in battles at Amberg on 24 August and Würzburg on 3 September Charles defeated Jourdan and compelled his army to retreat to the west bank of the Rhine. With Jourdan neutralized, Charles left Franz von Werneck to keep an eye on the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, Moreau briskly repulsed Latour at Biberach and safely reached the Rhine before Charles cut him off from France. However, in the battles of Emmendingen and Schliengen in October, during the winter the Austrians reduced the French bridgeheads at Kehl and Huningue. Despite Charles splendid success in Germany, Austria was losing the war in Italy to a new French army commander named Napoleon Bonaparte, in a decree on 6 January 1796, Lazare Carnot gave Germany priority over Italy as a theater of war. Jean Baptiste Jourdan commanding the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse was instructed to besiege Mainz, farther south, Jean Victor Marie Moreau leading the Army of Rhin-et-Moselle was ordered to mask Mannheim and invade Swabia. On the secondary front, Napoleon Bonaparte was to invade Italy, neutralize the Kingdom of Sardinia, hopefully, the Italian army would cross the Alps via the County of Tyrol and join the other French armies in crushing the Austrian forces in southern Germany. By the spring of 1796, Jourdan and Moreau each had 70,000 men while Bonapartes army numbered 63,000, including reserves and garrisons. Additionally, François Christophe de Kellermann counted 20,000 troops in the Army of the Alps, the First French Republics finances were in poor shape so its armies were expected to invade new territories and then live off the conquered lands. At the end of the Rhine Campaign of 1795 the two called a truce. This accord lasted until 20 May 1796 when the Austrians announced that it would end on 31 May, the Army of the Lower Rhine was commanded by the 25-year-old Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and counted 90,000 troops. The 20, 000-man right wing under Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg was on the east bank of the Rhine behind the Sieg River observing the French bridgehead at Düsseldorf, the garrisons of Mainz Fortress and Ehrenbreitstein Fortress counted 10,000 more. The remainder of Charles army was posted on the west bank behind the Nahe River, dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser led the 80, 000-strong Army of the Upper Rhine. Its right wing occupied Kaiserslautern on the west bank while the wing under Anton Sztáray, Michael von Fröhlich and Louis Joseph. The original Austrian strategy was to capture Trier and to use their position on the west bank to strike at each of the French armies in turn, however, Wurmser was sent to Italy with 25,000 reinforcements after news arrived of Bonapartes early successes. In the new situation, the Aulic Council gave Archduke Charles command over both Austrian armies and ordered him to hold his ground. At the start of the campaign, the 80, 000-man Army of Sambre-et-Meuse held the west bank of the Rhine down to the Nahe, on the armys left flank, Jean Baptiste Kléber had 22,000 troops in an entrenched camp at Düsseldorf. Carnots grand plan called for the two French armies to press against the Austrian flanks, but first, Jourdans army would push south from Düsseldorf
10.
Battle of Kehl (1796)
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In this action of the War of the First Coalition, the French drove the Swabians from their positions in Kehl and subsequently controlled the bridgehead on both sides of the Rhine. In the 1790s, the Rhine was wild, unpredictable, and difficult to cross, in places more than four or more times wider than it is in the twenty-first century. Its channels and tributaries wound through marsh and meadow and created islands of trees, the fortifications at Kehl and Strasbourg had been constructed by the fortress architect Sébastien le Préstre de Vauban in the seventeenth century. The crossings had been contested before, in 1678 during the French-Dutch war, in 1703 during the War of the Spanish Succession, critical to success of the French plan would be the armys ability to cross the Rhine at will. At the end of the Rhine Campaign of 1795, the two called a truce, which lasted until 20 May 1796, when the Austrians announced that it would end on 31 May. The Rhine River flows west along the border between the German states and the Swiss Cantons, a few miles north and east of Basel, the terrain flattens. In 1796, the plain on both sides of the river, some 19 miles wide, was dotted with villages and farms, at both far edges of the flood plain, especially on the eastern side, the old mountains created dark shadows on the horizon. Tributaries cut through the terrain of the Black Forest, creating deep defiles in the mountains. The tributaries then wind in rivulets through the plain to the river. The Rhine River itself looked different in the 1790s than it does in the twenty-first century, between 1927 and 1975, a canal was constructed to control the water level. In the 1790s, the river was wild and unpredictable, in places four or more times wider than the twenty-first century incarnation of the river. Its channels wound through marsh and meadow, and created islands of trees and it was crossable at Kehl, by Strasbourg, and Hüningen, by Basel, where systems of viaducts and causeways made access reliable. The German-speaking states on the east bank of the Rhine were part of the vast complex of territories in central Europe called the Holy Roman Empire, the considerable number of territories in the Empire included more than 1,000 entities. When viewed on a map, the Empire resembled a patchwork carpet, both the Habsburg domains and Hohenzollern Prussia also included territories outside the Empire. There were also territories completely surrounded by France that belonged to Württemberg, the Archbishopric of Trier, archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and brother of the Holy Roman Emperor, served as commander-in-chief. In total, Charles’ troops stretched in a line from Switzerland to the North Sea, compared to French coverage, Charles had half the number of troops covering a 211-mile front, stretching from Renchen, near Basel to Bingen. To the north, Wilhelm von Wartensleben’s autonomous corps stretched in a line between Mainz and Giessen. It was an army entirely dependent for support upon the countryside it occupied for provisions, until 1796, wages were paid in the worthless assignat, after April 1796, although pay was made in metallic value, wages were still in arrears
11.
Battle of Ettlingen
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The Austrians under Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen tried to halt the northward advance of Jean Victor Marie Moreaus French Army of Rhin-et-Moselle along the east bank of the Rhine River. After a tough fight, the Austrian commander found that his left flank was turned and he conceded victory to the French and retreated east toward Stuttgart. Ettlingen is located 10 kilometres south of Karlsruhe, the Rhine Campaign of 1796 saw Moreaus army facing the Austrian Army of the Upper Rhine under Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour in the south. Meanwhile, Jean-Baptiste Jourdans French Army of Sambre-et-Meuse opposed the Army of the Lower Rhine under Archduke Charles in the north, Jourdan drubbed Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg at Altenkirchen on 4 June, compelling Archduke Charles to rush to the rescue with reinforcements. Charles defeated Jourdan at Wetzlar on the 15th, forcing him to back to the west bank of the Rhine. At this time there was a shake up in the high command, in Charles absence, Moreau successfully crossed the Rhine at Kehl on the night of 23–24 June and beat Latour at Rastatt on 5 July. Leaving Wilhelm von Wartensleben in charge in the north, Charles rushed south to confront Moreau along the Alb River near Ettlingen. After an all-day combat, the Austrians held the advantage on their right wing near Malsch, the Army of the Lower Rhine had a 20, 000-strong right wing under Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg on the east bank observing the French bridgehead at Düsseldorf. The archdukes remaining 70,000 troops lay on the west bank along the Nahe River with powerful garrisons in Mainz and Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. The Army of Rhin-et-Moselle led by Jean Victor Marie Moreau was deployed with its right flank at Huningue, its center on the Queich River, the French grand strategy designed by Minister of War Lazare Carnot was for each of their two armies to turn the Austrian flanks. The strategic plan called for Jourdan to start by advancing by his wing and was designed to accomplish two goals. First, it was hoped that this would cause the Austrians to abandon the west bank of the Rhine, second, the move would draw Austrian strength north and allow Moreaus army a better chance to cross the Rhine in the south. Until this time, the Army of Rhine-et-Moselle consisted of independent divisions, when Moreau assumed command he reorganized the army into three corps or wings plus a small reserve. Over the objections of all three men, he named Louis Desaix, Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr and Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino wing commanders, the system soon proved its worth. Moreaus other innovation was to many of the heavy cavalry regiments in the army reserve. The Chasseurs à Cheval, Dragoon and Hussar regiments remained attached to the infantry divisions, on 8 June, Ferinos Right Wing had three divisions led by François Antoine Louis Bourcier, Henri François Delaborde and Augustin Tuncq. Desaixs Center had three divisions commanded by Michel de Beaupuy, Antoine Guillaume Delmas and Charles Antoine Xaintrailles, Saint-Cyrs Left Wing had two divisions under Guillaume Philibert Duhesme and Alexandre Camille Taponier. Altogether, Moreaus Army of Rhin-et-Moselle numbered 71,581 foot soldiers and 6,515 cavalry, counting artillery and other elements, Moreaus total was 79,592 soldiers while Jourdan commanded 77,792 men
12.
Battle of Neresheim
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The Battle of Neresheim saw a victory of Republican French army under Jean Victor Marie Moreau over the Habsburg Austrian army of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. Pursued by Moreaus Army of Rhin-et-Moselle, Charles launched an attack against the French, while the Austrian left wing saw some success, the battle degenerated into a stalemate and the archduke withdrew further into the Electorate of Bavaria. Neresheim is located in the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany a distance of 57 kilometres northeast of Ulm, the action took place during the War of the First Coalition, part of a larger conflict called the French Revolutionary Wars. In the Rhine Campaign of 1796, two French armies successfully breached the Rhine River to invade Germany, Moreaus army in the south, Charles hoped to concentrate superior strength against one of the two French armies. To keep his enemies separated, the archduke wished to lure Moreau south of the Danube River by crossing to the south bank, to allow his columns to cross the river safely, Charles attacked the French, hoping to push them back. Though he failed to defeat the French, the battle gave the archduke enough space to get his troops over the Danube without interference, though he had a chance to join his army to Jourdans in the north, Moreau soon crossed to the south bank in pursuit. On 8 June 1796, the Army of Rhin-et-Moselle commanded by Jean Victor Marie Moreau numbered 71,581 foot soldiers and 6,515 cavalry, not counting artillerists. The army was formed into a Right Wing under Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino, a Center led by Louis Desaix and a Left Wing directed by Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr. Saint-Cyrs two divisions were under Guillaume Philibert Duhesme,7,438 infantry and 895 cavalry, with artillerymen, Moreaus host counted a total of 79,592 soldiers. Originally, the Army of Rhin-et-Moselle was opposed by 82,776 Austrians, but 25,330 Austrians were soon transferred to Italy and Wurmser went with this force on 18 June. Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour was appointed the new commander of the Army of the Upper Rhine. The former leader of the Army of the Lower Rhine, Archduke Charles, on 24 June 1796, the Army of Rhin-et-Moselle mounted a successful assault crossing of the Rhine River in the Battle of Kehl. The French sustained losses of 150 killed, wounded and missing out of 10,065 engaged, the Swabian Regional Contingent defenders numbered 7,000 soldiers in eight foot battalions, eight horse squadrons and two artillery batteries. The Swabians suffered over 700 casualties and lost 14 guns and 22 munition wagons, Moreaus forces inflicted a second defeat on a force of 9,000 Swabians and their Austrian allies under Anton Sztáray at Renchen on 28 June. This time the French reported only 200 casualties while inflicting 550 killed and wounded on their enemies, in addition, the French captured 850 soldiers, seven guns and two munition wagons. During this period of maneuvering, Moreau switched the positions of two of his wings, Ferino still commanded the Right Wing, but Desaix now commanded the Left Wing while Saint-Cyr led the Center. On 30 June, Latours Army of the Upper Rhine was divided into a Left Wing under Michael von Fröhlich, a Center led by Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg, fröhlichs wing was made up of eight battalions and 12 squadrons of Austrians organized in two brigades. Fürstenbergs command consisted of 17 battalions, five companies and 10 squadrons, including Swabians and Bavarians, Latours wing had 25 battalions and 58 squadrons organized into five divisions under Prince von Fürstemberg, Johann Mészáros von Szoboszló, Johann Sigismund Riesch, Karl von Riese, and Sztáray
13.
Second Battle of Kehl (1796)
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The Second Battle of Kehl occurred on 18 September 1796, when General Franz Petraschs Austrian and Imperial troops stormed the French-held bridgehead over the Rhine river. The village of Kehl, which is now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, was part of Baden-Durlach. Across the river, Strasbourg, an Alsatian city, was a French Revolutionary stronghold and this battle was part of the Rhine Campaign of 1796, in the French Revolutionary War of the First Coalition. In the 1790s, the Rhine was wild, unpredictable, and its channels and tributaries created islands of trees and vegetation that were alternately submerged by floods or exposed during the dry seasons. A complex of bridges, gates, fortifications and barrage dams linked Kehl with Strasbourg and these had been constructed by the fortress architect Sébastien le Préstre de Vauban in the seventeenth century. Critical to French success would be the ability to cross the Rhine at will. In late summer of 1796, the Austrian force reacquired most of the territory lost to the French earlier in the summer, the situation remained in status quo until late October. Control of the territory there prevented the French from crossing to safety in Strasbourg. Immediately after the Battle of Schliengen, while most of Moreaus army retreated south to cross the Rhine at Hüningen, although initially the republican French experienced several victories, the campaigns of 1793 through 1795 had been less successful. However, the Coalition partners had difficulty coordinating their war aims, in 1794 and 1795, French victories in northern Italy salvaged French enthusiasm for the war, and forced the Coalition to withdraw further into Central Europe. At the end of the Rhine Campaign of 1795, the Habsburg Austrian Coalition and this agreement lasted until 20 May 1796, when the Austrians announced that the truce would end on 31 May. The Austrian Coalitions Army of the Lower Rhine included 90,000 troops, the garrisons of Mainz Fortress and Ehrenbreitstein Fortress included 10,000 more. The remainder of the Imperial and Coalition army, the 80, 000-strong Army of the Upper Rhine, the original Austrian strategy was to capture Trier and to use their position on the west bank to strike at each of the French armies in turn. On the French side, the 80, 000-man Army of Sambre-et-Meuse held the west bank of the Rhine down to the Nahe, on the armys left flank, Jean Baptiste Kléber had 22,000 troops in an entrenched camp at Düsseldorf. Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino led Moreaus right wing at Hüningen, Louis Desaix commanded the center, ferinos wing consisted of three infantry and cavalry divisions under François Antoine Louis Bourcier and Henri François Delaborde. Desaixs command included three divisions led by Michel de Beaupuy, Antoine Guillaume Delmas and Charles Antoine Xaintrailles, saint-Cyrs wing had two divisions commanded by Guillaume Philibert Duhesme and Alexandre Camille Taponier. According to plan, Jourdans army feinted toward Mannheim, and Charles repositioned his troops, Moreau reinforced the bridgehead with his forward guard, and his troops poured into Baden unhindered. Worried that his supply lines would be overextended or his army would be flanked, at this point, in July, the jealousies and competition between the French generals came into play
14.
Battle of Biberach (1796)
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The French army paused in its retreat toward the Rhine River to savage the pursuing Austrians. The action occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars, Biberach an der Riss is located 35 kilometres southwest of Ulm. During the summer of 1796, the two armies of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan in the north and Moreau in the south advanced into southern Germany and they were opposed by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen who oversaw two Austrian armies under Latour and Wilhelm von Wartensleben. At the Battle of Amberg on 24 August 1796, Charles, after Jourdan was beaten again at the Battle of Würzburg on 3 September, Moreau was forced to abandon southern Bavaria to avoid being cut off from France. As the outnumbered Latour doggedly followed the French retreat, Moreau lashed out at him at Biberach. For a loss of 500 soldiers killed and wounded, Moreaus troops inflicted 300 killed and wounded on their enemies and captured 4,000 prisoners,18 artillery pieces, after the engagement, Latour followed the French at a more respectful distance. The next action was the Battle of Emmendingen on 19 October
15.
Battle of Emmendingen
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The Battle of Emmendingen was fought between the French Army of Rhin-et-Moselle under Jean Victor Marie Moreau and the Austrian Army of the Upper Rhine commanded by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. The Austrians won the battle and forced the French to withdraw to the south where the Battle of Schliengen was fought five days later, the action occurred during the War of the First Coalition, the first conflict of the larger French Revolutionary Wars. Emmendingen is located on the Elz River in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Emmendingen of Germany and it is located at the Elz River,14 km north of Freiburg im Breisgau. At the end of the Rhine Campaign of 1795 the two called a truce in January 1796. This agreement lasted until 20 May 1796 when the Austrians announced that it would end on 31 May, the Coalition Army of the Lower Rhine included 90,000 troops. The 20, 000-man right wing under Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg stood on the east bank of the Rhine behind the Sieg River, the garrisons of Mainz Fortress and Ehrenbreitstein Fortress counted 10,000 more. Charles posted the remainder of the Habsburg and Coalition force on the west bank behind the Nahe, dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser led the 80, 000-strong Army of the Upper Rhine. Its right wing occupied Kaiserslautern on the west bank while the wing under Anton Sztáray, Michael von Fröhlich and Louis Joseph. The original Austrian strategy was to capture Trier and to use their position on the west bank to strike at each of the French armies in turn, however, after news arrived in Vienna of Bonapartes successes, Wurmser was sent to Italy with 25,000 reinforcements. Reconsidering the situation, the Aulic Council gave Archduke Charles command over both Austrian armies and ordered him to hold his ground. On the French side, the 80, 000-man Army of Sambre-et-Meuse held the west bank of the Rhine down to the Nahe, on the armys left flank, Jean Baptiste Kléber had 22,000 troops in an entrenched camp at Düsseldorf. Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino led Moreaus right wing, Louis Desaix commanded the center, Ferinos wing consisted of three infantry and cavalry divisions under Bourcier and Delaborde. Desaixs command counted three divisions led by Beaupuy, Delmas and Xaintrailles, saint-Cyrs wing had two divisions commanded by Duhesme, and Taponier. The French grand plan called for two French armies to press against the flanks of the armies in the German states while simultaneously a third army approached Vienna through Italy. According to plan, Jourdan’s army feinted toward Mannheim, and Charles quickly reapportioned his troops, on June 23–24, Moreau reinforced the bridgehead with his forward guard. After pushing the imperial militia from their post on the bridgehead, anxious that his supply lines would be overextended, Charles began a retreat to the east. At this point, the inherent jealousies and competition between generals came into play, Moreau could have joined up with Jourdan’s army in the north, but did not, he proceeded eastward, pushing Charles into Bavaria. Jourdan also moved eastward, pushing Wartensleben’s autonomous corps into the Ernestine duchies, there followed a summer of strategic retreats, flanking, and reflanking maneuvers
16.
Battle of Schliengen
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The village of Schliengen lies in the present-day Kreis Lörrach close to the border of present-day Baden-Württemberg, the Haut-Rhin, and the Canton of Basel-Stadt. During the French Revolutionary Wars, Schliengen was an important location for the armies of both Republican France and Habsburg Austria. Control of the area gave either combatant access to southwestern German states, on 20 October Moreau retreated from Freiburg im Breisgau and established his army along a ridge of hills. The severe condition of the roads prevented Archduke Charles from flanking the French right wing, the French left wing lay too close to the Rhine to outflank, and the French center, positioned in a 7-mile semi-circle on heights that commanded the terrain below, was unassailable. Instead, he attacked the French flanks directly, and in force, although the French and the Austrians claimed victory at the time, military historians generally agree that the Austrians achieved a strategic advantage. However, the French withdrew from the battlefield in good order, the battle is commemorated on a monument in Vienna and on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Initially, the rulers of Europe viewed the French Revolution as a dispute between the French king and his subjects, and not something in which they should interfere, the position of the revolutionaries became increasingly difficult. Compounding their problems in relations, French émigrés continued to agitate for support of a counter-revolution. Finally, on 20 April 1792, the French National Convention declared war on Austria, in this War of the First Coalition, France ranged itself against most of the European states sharing land or water borders with her, plus Portugal and the Ottoman Empire. For the French, the Rhine Campaign of 1795 proved especially disastrous, in total, though, the commander-in-chief Archduke Charles troops stretched from Switzerland to the North Sea and Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmsers, from the Swiss-Italian border to the Adriatic. Compared to French coverage, Charles had half the number of troops covering a 211-mile front that stretched from Renchen near Basel to Bingen, to his north, Wilhelm von Wartenslebens autonomous corps covered the line between Mainz and Giessen. The Austrian army consisted of professionals, many moved from the regions in the Balkans. Two French generals, Jean Baptiste Jourdan and Jean Victor Moreau, commanded the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, furthermore, it was an army entirely dependent upon the countryside for its material support. After April 1796, pay was made in metallic value, throughout the spring and early summer, the unpaid French army was in almost constant mutiny, in May 1796, in the border town of Zweibrücken, the 74th Demi-brigade revolted. In June, the 17th Demi-brigade was insubordinate and in the 84th Demi-brigade, two companies rebelled. In Spring,1796, when resumption of war appeared eminent, the 88 members of the Swabian Circle and these were literally raw recruits, field hands and day laborers drafted for service, but usually untrained in military matters. It was largely guess work where they should be placed, on 24 June, though, at Kehl, Moreaus advance guard,10,000, preceded the main force of 27,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry directed at the Swabian pickets on the bridge. The Swabians were hopelessly outnumbered and could not be reinforced, most of the Imperial Army of the Rhine was stationed further north, by Mannheim, where the river was easier to cross, but too far away to support the smaller force at Kehl
17.
War of the First Coalition
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France declared war on the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria on 20 April 1792. In July 1792, an army under the Duke of Brunswick and composed mostly of Prussians joined the Austrian side and invaded France, France suffered reverses and internal strife and responded with draconian measures. The Committee of Public Safety formed and the en masse drafted all potential soldiers aged 18 to 25. The new French armies counterattacked, repelled the invaders, and advanced beyond France, the French established the Batavian Republic as a sister republic and gained Prussian recognition of French control of the Left Bank of the Rhine by the first Peace of Basel. With the Treaty of Campo Formio, the Holy Roman Empire ceded the Austrian Netherlands to France, Spain made a separate peace accord with France and the French Directory carried out plans to conquer more of the Holy Roman Empire. The First Coalition collapsed, leaving only Britain in the fighting against France. The key figure, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, brother to the French Queen Marie Antoinette, had looked on the Revolution calmly. He became more concerned as the Revolution grew further radical, although he hoped to avoid war. Dumouriez prepared an invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, where he expected the population to rise against Austrian rule. However, the revolution had thoroughly disorganized the French army, which had insufficient forces for the invasion and its soldiers fled at the first sign of battle, deserting en masse, in one case murdering General Théobald Dillon. While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganized its armies, in July 1792 the invasion commenced. Brunswicks army, composed mostly of Prussian veterans, took the fortresses of Longwy, although the battle was a tactical draw, it bought time for the revolutionaries and gave a great boost to French morale. Dumouriez went on the offensive in Belgium once again, winning a victory over the Austrians at Jemappes on 6 November 1792. On 21 January the revolutionary government executed Louis XVI after a trial and this united all European governments, including Spain, Naples, and the Netherlands against the Revolution. France declared war against Britain and the Netherlands on 1 February 1793, in the course of the year 1793 the Holy Roman Empire, the kings of Portugal and Naples, and the Grand-Duke of Tuscany declared war against France. Thus the First Coalition was formed, the French government sent Citizen Genet to the United States to encourage them into entering the war on Frances side. The newly formed nation refused and remained throughout the conflict. After a victory in the Battle of Neerwinden in March, the Austrians suffered twin defeats at the battles of Wattignies, British land forces were defeated at the Battle of Hondschoote in September
18.
Battle of Valmy
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The Battle of Valmy was the first major victory by the army of France during the Revolutionary Wars that followed the French Revolution. The action took place on 20 September 1792 as Prussian troops commanded by the Duke of Brunswick attempted to march on Paris, generals François Kellermann and Charles Dumouriez stopped the advance near the northern village of Valmy in Champagne-Ardenne. The outcome was unexpected by contemporary observers – a vindication for the French revolutionaries. The victory emboldened the newly assembled National Convention to formally declare the end of monarchy in France, Valmy permitted the development of the Revolution and all its resultant ripple-effects, and for that it is regarded by historians as one of the most significant battles in history. As the French Revolution continued, the monarchies of Europe became concerned that revolutionary fervor would spread to their countries, the War of the First Coalition was an effort to stop the revolution, or at least contain it to France. King Frederick William II of Prussia had the support of Great Britain, the French commander Charles Dumouriez, meanwhile, had been marching his army northeast to attack the Austrian Netherlands, but this plan was abandoned because of the more immediate threat to Paris. A second army under General François Kellermann was ordered to link up with him in a mutual defense and these veterans provided a professional core to steady the enthusiastic volunteer battalions. Combined, Dumouriez Army of the North and Kellermanns Army of the Centre totalled approximately 54,000 troops. Heading towards them was Brunswicks coalition army of about 84,000, all veteran Prussian and Austrian troops augmented by large complements of Hessians and the French royalist Army of Condé. The invading army handily captured Longwy on 23 August and Verdun on 2 September, in response, Dumouriez halted his advance to the Netherlands and reversed course, approaching the enemy army from its rear. From Metz, Kellermann moved to his assistance, joining him at the village of Sainte-Menehould on 19 September, the French forces were now east of the Prussians, behind their lines. The unfavorable situation was compounded by bad weather and an increase in sickness among the troops. With few other options available, Brunswick turned back and prepared to do battle, the troops trudged laboriously through a heavy downpour – rain as of the days of Noah, in the words of Thomas Carlyle. Brunswick headed through the northern woods believing he could cut off Dumouriez, at the moment when the Prussian manœuvre was nearly completed, Kellermann advanced his left wing and took up a position on the slopes between Sainte-Menehould and Valmy. His command centered around an old windmill, and his veteran artillerists were well-placed upon its accommodating rise to begin the so-called Cannonade of Valmy, Brunswick moved toward them with about 34,000 of his troops. As they emerged from the woods, a gunnery duel ensued. The Prussian infantry made a cautious, and fruitless, effort to advance under fire across the open ground, as the Prussians wavered, a pivotal moment was reached when Kellermann raised his hat and made his famous cry of Vive la Nation. The cry was repeated again and again by all the French army, the French troops sang La Marseillaise and Ça Ira, and a cheer went up from the French line
19.
Siege of Lille (1792)
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The Siege of Lille saw a Republican French garrison under Jean-Baptiste André Ruault de La Bonnerie hold Lille against an assault by a Habsburg Austrian army commanded by Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen. Though the city was bombarded, the French successfully withstood the Austrian attack in the War of the First Coalition action. Because the Austrians were unable to encircle the city, the French were able to continuously send in reinforcements. After news of the French victory over the Prussians at Valmy, Albert withdrew his troops, the next battle was at Jemappes in November. The Column of the Goddess monument was completed in 1845 to commemorate the siege, after the Kingdom of France captured Lille in 1668, the famous military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban was ordered to improve its defenses. The five-sided citadel was constructed between 1668 and 1672 at a cost of 1,500,000 florins and the result was announced by Vauban to be the Queen of Citadels. The citadel was surrounded by marshes, except where it adjoined the city, in 1670, parts of the old walls were torn down to make room for new fortifications. When the work was done, Lille was protected by 16 bastions, Vauban estimated that 12,000 soldiers were required to defend the huge fortifications, including 1,000 manning the citadel. On 19 August, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette left his command at the Army of the North, on 17 August, the increasingly radicalized French Legislative Assembly had demanded that La Fayette report to Paris for questioning and on the 19th he was charged with treason. Not understanding that his enemies wanted to guillotine him, the Prussians and Austrians imprisoned La Fayette until 1797. His replacement in command was the more astute Charles François Dumouriez. Dumouriez dreamed of an invasion of the Austrian Netherlands. On 24 August, the politically-connected François Joseph Westermann arrived at headquarters with the news that Longwy had fallen to the Coalition the day before after a feeble defense, the Coalition forces bombarded Longwy into submission then gained a quick triumph in the Battle of Verdun on 2 September. At last Dumouriez realized that Brunswick might be headed to Paris and he also ordered Pierre de Ruel, marquis de Beurnonville to join him with 10,000 soldiers from the Army of the North and Blaise Duval to bring 3,050 more. The Battle of Valmy occurred on 20 September, after which Brunswick withdrew from France, with Dumouriez absent, the French only had 6,000 troops under René Joseph Lanoue to defend Maubeuge. There were 4,000 soldiers led by Jacques Henri Moreton Chabrillant spread between Bruille-Saint-Amand, Saint-Amand-les-Eaux and Orchies as well as 4, 000–5,000 men in the Camp of Maulde. Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen decided to divert French strength away from Brunswicks invasion by launching attacks on the enemies before him, Saxe-Teschen counted 51 infantry battalions and 40 cavalry squadrons of which 14 battalions were in garrisons. On 3 September Anton Sztáray threatened Philippeville while Johann Peter Beaulieu menaced Quiévrain, when Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour advanced from Tournai toward Lille on 5 September, Moreton abandoned the Camp of Maulde and fell back behind the Scarpe River
20.
Battle of Jemappes
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The Battle of Jemappes took place near the town of Jemappes in Hainaut, Belgium, near Mons during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The French, who outnumbered their opponents by about three-to-one, launched a series of enthusiastic, at length, the French seized a portion of the ridge and the Austrians were unable to drive them away. Saxe-Teschen conceded defeat by ordering a withdrawal, Dumouriez, intent on invading the Austrian Netherlands, advanced late in the season and attacked the Austrians with greatly superior forces. Jemappes was won by costly but effective charges against the Austrians prepared position, Dumouriez overran the Austrian Netherlands within a month, but lost it at the Battle of Neerwinden in March. The French would not reconquer the Austrian Netherlands until the summer of 1794 and this left Dumouriez free to move north, to first lay siege to Lille in late September and into early October, and then to launch his long-planned invasion of the Austrian Netherlands. The Austrian army was commanded by Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, the governor of the Austrian Netherlands. Although he had more than 20,000 troops available, they were scattered in a defensive line. With this power, he tried to defend the 5-mile long Cuesmes ridge which ran from Mons in the Austrian left to Jemappes on the right side. The Austrian right was commanded by Franz Freiherr von Lilien, the center by Franz Sebastian de Croix Count Clerfayt, two other companies were further to the left around Mont Palisel and an infantry battalion was at Mons. The Austrian army positioned themselves on the marshes around the Trouille groves and rivers, the only other way for a retreat was via Mons. Dumouriez had twice as many men as the Austrians and his own Armée du Nord contained 32,000 infantry,3,800 cavalry and 100 guns and was supported in Jemappes by a further 4,000 men and 15 guns under General François Harville. Dumouriezs infantry battalions contained thirteen volunteers from 1792, harvilles men were also volunteers, but most of the older commanders were either experienced soldiers or aristocrats. The most obvious example was the commander of the French center, the Duke of Chartres, who had assumed the name of General Egalite, the right wing was commanded by General Pierre de Riel, Marquis de Beurnonville and left of General Louis Marie de la Caussade Ferrand. Harville was to reinforce the right, Dumouriez planned to use his armys numbers to overtake the Austrian position. The plan was for Harville and Beurnonville to attack first, Ferrand would then capture Quaregnon before Jemappes. Beurnonville would then attack the Austrian center while Harville moved to Mont Palisel to cut off the Austrian retreat, see Jemappes 1792 Order of Battle for details of the Austrian and French organizations. Saxe-Teschen entrenched his 11,628 infantry,2,168 cavalry and 56 guns along the Cuesmes Ridge just a few kilometers west of Mons, the Austrian artillery included fourteen 12-lb cannon, thirty-six 6-lb and 3-lb cannon and six 7-lb howitzers. The north end of the position, defended by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Freiherr von Lilien, was anchored on the village of Jemappes, feldzeugmeister Count Clerfayt commanded the center and Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann Peter Beaulieu led the left wing
21.
Battle of Neerwinden (1793)
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The Second Battle of Neerwinden saw a Republican French army led by Charles François Dumouriez attack a Coalition army commanded by Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. The French position in the Austrian Netherlands swiftly collapsed, ending the threat to the Dutch Republic, the War of the First Coalition engagement was fought at Neerwinden, located 57 kilometres east of Brussels in present-day Belgium. After Dumouriezs victory at Jemappes in November 1792, the French armies rapidly overran most of the Austrian Netherlands, rather than driving the Austrians to the west bank of the Rhine River, Dumouriez and the French government became preoccupied with a war with the Dutch Republic. During the breathing space offered by her enemy, Austria assembled an army under the Prince of Coburg, after a French covering force was routed by Coburg at Aldenhoven, Dumouriez began gathering his army for a counterstroke. Coburg took up a position at Neerwinden and awaited the confident Dumouriezs attack. The Coalition army was outnumbered in infantry but possessed a superiority in cavalry. After intense fighting, Coburgs troops repulsed the attacks of the French center, when Dumouriez found that his left wing was driven off the battlefield, he began retreating. The defeat led to desertions from the discouraged French volunteers. In the face of the collapse, Dumouriez negotiated a free withdrawal of French troops in return for the surrender of Belgium. Soon, Dumouriez was plotting against his own government and when his plans failed, he defected to the Austrians, on 6 November 1792, a French army under Charles François Dumouriez defeated the Austrian army of Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen at the Battle of Jemappes. The French enjoyed a numerical superiority with 40,000 infantry,3,000 cavalry and 100 guns against an Austrian army counting 11,628 foot soldiers,2,168 horsemen and 56 guns. Within one month the French armies overran most of the Austrian Netherlands, on the right flank, the Army of the Ardennes led by Jean-Baptiste Cyrus de Valence advanced down the Meuse River toward Huy. On the way, Valence dropped off a force under Louis-Auguste Juvénal des Ursins dHarville to besiege Namur, Dumouriez himself with the Army of Belgium captured Liège. The Army of the North commanded by Francisco de Miranda laid siege to Antwerp and it was joined by a column under Benôit Guérin de Berneron that marched first from Ath northeast to Leuven. On the 27th Stengel with 8,000 soldiers from the Army of Belgium won an action at Voroux-lez-Liers near Liège over Anton Sztáray. Antwerp fell on 29 November to Mirandas 17,600 infantry and 1,245 cavalry, the Austrian garrison of the 1st Battalion of the Hohenlohe Nr. 17, two companies of the Vierset Nr.59 and four companies of the Würzburg Infantry Regiments, the French captured 57 cannons,50 additional 3-pound regimental cannons,3,150 muskets and 1,523 hundredweight of gunpowder. The 2, 599-man garrison of Namur under Johann Dominik von Moitelle surrendered on 2 December to Valence, the Austrian defenders included two battalions of the Kinsky Infantry Regiment Nr
22.
Siege of Mainz (1793)
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In the Siege of Mainz, from 14 April to 23 July 1793, a coalition of Prussia, Austria, and other German states besieged and captured Mainz from revolutionary French forces. The allies, especially the Prussians, first tried negotiations, but this failed, within the town the siege and bombardment led to stress between citizens, municipality and the French war council, governing since 2 April. The city administration was displaced on 13 July, this increased the stubbornness of the remaining population, since a relief army was missing, the war council was forced to take up negotiations with the allied forces on 17 July, the remaining soldiers capitulated on 23 July. Nearly 19,000 French troops surrendered at the end of the siege, consequently, they were used to fight French royalists in the Vendée region of France. They left the town singing La Marseillaise, the Republic of Mainz, the first democratic state on the later German territory, was subsequently dissolved. Mainz received a Prussian commander to administer the city, crucis, the Benedictine abbey St. Jacob on the citadel and the remains of St. Albans Abbey. The cathedral had been heavily damaged, the biggest impact of the occupation and siege was that the citys part in the old imperial electoral structure finally came to their end. Thus the events of the year 1793 also marked the end of Aurea Moguntia, the city lost its status as the electoral residence. The shelling of Mainz was widely discussed in Europe, many people gathered round the town in order to view the siege. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe assisted Duke Carl August of Saxe-Weimar during the siege, the Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Die Belagerung von Mainz, schmittlein, Raymond, Un Recit de Guerre de Goethe le Siege de Mayence II. Arthur Chuquet, The Wars of the Revolution, The Siege of Mainz, Die Belagerung von Mainz by Goethe in the Project Gutenberg
23.
Battle of Famars
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The Battle of Famars was fought on 23 May 1793 during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition. An Allied Austrian, Hanoverian, and British army under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld defeated the French Army of the North led by François Joseph Drouot de Lamarche, the action occurred near the village of Famars in northern France, five km south of Valenciennes. In May 1793, following a series of reverses the French Republican army in the Low Countries was in a desperate situation, dispirited after the death of its former commander Augustin-Marie Picot de Dampierre, it was tired and disorganised. In addition it was weakened by detachments taken from each battalion to serve in the war in the Vendée. Although new recruits were being allocated from the levy of 300,000, the new temporary commander Lamarche realised that all that could be done for the moment was to draw back to an entrenched camp at Famars and the fortress of Valenciennes. The allies under Coburg moved to besiege Valenciennes, but first they desired to drive Lamarche from Famars to clear the way and prevent any intervention from the French. Coburgs forces had recently been augmented by the newly arrived Anglo-Hanoverian contingent commanded by the 26-year-old Frederick, Duke of York and this is perhaps surprising, as for many of the British troops it would be their first taste of action against Republican France. The camp at Famars lay on a ridge, three south of Valenciennes, and was bordered on the east by the river Rhonelle. On the other side of the Scheldt Clerfayt was to launch an attack against the entrenched camp at Mont Anzin. The 1st Main Column of 16 battalions and 18 squadrons was led by the Duke of York and included the British Guards brigade under Gerard Lake, which had already seen action at Raismes on 8 May. Macks instructions were for York to cross the Rhonelle by trestle bridges in the neighbourhood of Artres, in other words, no resistance was expected until the attack on the French camp. Austrian Feldzeugmeister Joseph de Ferraris commanded the 2nd Main Column, which included Abercrombys Brigade of the British 14th Foot and it was to attack from the village of Saultain against entrenchments on the East bank of the Rhonelle. Soon after 2,00 am Yorks column moved off from its assembly point two miles behind Artres, but thick fog slowed their progress and the Rhonelle was only reached at 7. 00am. York was accompanied by both Mack and Coburgs Chief-of-Staff Hohenlohe, the appointed by Coburg to ensure the untested York didnt do anything too rash. As the fog lifted a beautiful dawn revealed their intended crossing point bristling with enemy infantry and artillery, Mack was wounded right at the beginning of the action, so the untried Duke of York was left to make up his own mind as to his next course of action. Fording the stream there unopposed, Yorks light cavalry ascended the low ridge to the south of the village to probe the French flank towards Querenaing, the Allied cavalry had some success when they entered the open redoubts via gorges and cut down the defenders. The French cavalry attempted to retake the redoubts but were beaten off, meanwhile, further north Ferrariss column had stormed the long entrenchment on the east bank ridge of the Famars position and driven the French back to the west of the Rhonelle. Earlier in the day several squadrons of French cavalry had been threatening his flank, whereby they were charged by the Hanoverian Life Guards
24.
Siege of Bellegarde (1793)
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The capture of the fort gave Spain control of an important road through the Pyrenees. The siege took place during the War of the Pyrenees, part of the French Revolutionary Wars, Fort de Bellegarde is on a height overlooking the border town of Le Perthus, which lies on the modern A9 autoroute and Autovía A-7. King Louis XIV of France built Fort de Bellegarde after 1678 according to a plan drawn up by Sébastien de Vauban and this strong masonry fortress defended the Col de Le Perthus which crosses the Pyrenees at an altitude of 305 metres. The pass is the most important route from Spain into France in the eastern Pyrenees, as Vauban noted, Nothing overlooks this place, and the fortress is situated on the highest ground in the area. When Spain went to war with revolutionary France in mid-April 1793, with Bellegarde dominating the main road into France, the Spanish commander had to surround, besiege, and capture the place before he could use the main road as a supply route for his invading army. Accordingly, Ricardos crossed the Pyrenees 20 km to the southwest with 4,500 soldiers, in the first skirmish of the War of the Pyrenees, the Spanish evicted the 400 French defenders. Continuing his left hook, Ricardos 4,400 troops fell upon a French force at the town of Céret on the Tech River, the French,800 regulars and 1,000 National Guards with 4 cannon, panicked and fled. Between 100 and 200 Frenchmen became victims of Spanish musketry and steel, Ricardos reported only 17 men wounded. During the initial operations, the Spanish commander placed a detachment near Bellegarde to keep Boisbrulé, with the seizure of Céret, Ricardos placed his army nearly in the rear of Bellegarde. After receiving some reinforcements, he advanced farther to the northeast to the vicinity of Trouillas, at this location, the 7,000 Spanish troops were confronted by the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees led by General of Division Louis-Charles de Flers. At the Battle of Mas Deu on 19 May, Ricardos defeated de Flers with the loss of 150 killed,280 wounded, the Spanish lost 34 killed and an unknown number of wounded. The demoralized French soldiers retreated north to the department capital of Perpignan, rather than press on, Ricardos turned back to besiege Bellegarde, which overlooked his main supply route back to Barcelona. The siege of Bellegarde and its garrison of 1,536 French soldiers began on 23 May, the garrisons firepower included at least 41 cannon and seven mortars. The 6,000 Spanish besiegers and 34 cannon first concentrated their efforts on reducing two outworks on the side of the main fort. The French Émigré Vallespir battalion fought alongside the Spanish, by 30 May, Ricardos had sited 16 guns in batteries at a distance of 1,200 paces from Fort les Bains. On 3 June,350 Frenchmen surrendered the outwork after a bombardment, two days later, the Fort de la Garde fell after its water supply was cut off, and 200 more French soldiers became prisoners of war. While siege operations proceeded,3,350 Frenchmen tried to escort a convoy to the fortress but were driven off on 29 May. For several weeks the Spanish siege guns pounded the fortress until a breach was made in the main wall, by this time,42 of the 50 French artillery pieces were dismounted
25.
Battle of Saorgio (1793)
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The local Sardinian commander in the Maritime Alps was Charles-François Thaon, Count of Saint-André. Saorge is now located in France about 70 kilometres northeast of Nice, in April 1794 the French seized the positions from the Austro-Sardinians in the Second Battle of Saorgio. The winter of 1792 found two French armies facing the Kingdom of Sardinia, on the north was the Army of the Alps under François Christophe Kellermann occupying Savoy. On the south lay the Army of Italy under Jacques Bernard dAnselme at Nice with a strength of 26,806 men. Anselme wanted to mount an expedition to Rome but the French government desired to attack the island of Sardinia instead. The government ordered Anselme suspended on 16 December 1792 and his replacement was Gaspard Jean-Baptiste Brunet. Anselme was arrested on 12 April 1793 but managed to survive the Reign of Terror, meanwhile, Brunet led the expedition to Sardinia which began on 8 January and ended in complete failure within two months. Armand Louis de Gontaut, Duke of Biron assumed command of the Army of Italy on 10 February, despite this, the Austrian government suspected Victor Amadeus of desiring a separate peace with France. In fact, the French tried to drive a wedge between Sardinia and Austria, but the execution of King Louis XVI by guillotine on 21 January 1793 caused Victor Amadeus to rebuff France. In the spring, the defenses of Sardinia were organized from north to south as follows, the Duke of Montferrat held the Little St Bernard Pass which protected the Aosta Valley. The Marquis of Cordon covered the Susa Valley with 14 battalions and his headquarters were at Susa and a 16-gun fort overlooked the Mont Cenis Pass. Giovanni Marchese di Provera guarded the Agnel Pass near Monte Viso, leopold Lorenz Bartholomaus von Strassoldo shielded the Stura di Demonte Valley with 12 battalions posted near Demonte. Farthest south, Charles-François Thaon, Count of Saint-André employed 10,000 to 12,000 soldiers to defend Saorgio, on 28 February 1793 there was a clash at Levens in which Birons 12,000 Frenchmen defeated 7,000 Sardinians under the Count of Saint-André. Both sides suffered 800 casualties while the Sardinians also lost two of their six artillery pieces, at this period, the Sardinians were more familiar with mountain warfare while the French columns, moving separately, often lost themselves in the forests, rough terrain and foggy valleys. Birons offensive was helped when the Army of the Alps took responsibility over the Barcelonette valley, moving east, the French overran the lower Var and Vésubie valleys and occupied Sospel. In March the Army of Italy counted 17,000 troops present for duty in 25 infantry battalions, already a rising star, André Masséna had charge of five battalions. In its strange policy of moving commanders around before they could master their armies, though the duke was loyal to the French Revolution, the Jacobins planned to bring him down because he was a prominent aristocrat. They finally succeeded and Biron went to the guillotine on 31 December 1793, the Sardinian infantry regiments normally had two battalions, numbering about 500 men each
26.
Battle of Arlon (1793)
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The Battle of Arlon saw a French Republican force under the command of Amable Henri Delaage face a Habsburg Austrian force led by Gottfried von Schröder. The French were victorious though they suffered higher casualties than the Austrians, the action was fought during the War of the First Coalition, part of the larger French Revolutionary Wars. Arlon is located in Belgium, a distance of 30 kilometres west of Luxembourg city, during the Siege of Mainz, the Army of the Rhine, under the orders of Alexandre François Marie de Beauharnais, was entrenched on the Lauter. After taking up his positions, the commander in chief had reorganised his troops, at the same time the Army of the Moselle was retiring behind the Blies and Saar. In 1793 the Army of the Moselle counted 27 battalions of line infantry, the light infantry consisted of the 6th, 13th, 16th and 17th Battalions. The cavalry regiments were the 4th, 10th, 11th and 14th Cavalry, 1st, 11th and 14th Dragoons, 1st, 9th, 18th and 19th Chasseurs à Cheval, the Austrians at Arlon were under the command of Feldmarschall-Leutnant Gottfried von Schröder. His approximately 6,000 troops were organized into seven battalions, the Austrian infantry was made up of three battalions of the Infantry Regiment Franz Kinsky Nr. 47, one battalion of the Infantry Regiment Murray Nr,55, the 1st Battalion of Infantry Regiment Alton Nr.15 and the 3rd Battalions of Infantry Regiments Devins Nr.37 and Johann Jellacic Nr.53. Schroders mounted contingent consisted of six squadrons of the Kinsky Chevau-léger Regiment Nr.7, the French forces were led by General of Division Amable Henri Delaage and counted 8,500 infantry and 1,000 cavalry from the Army of the Moselle. The right was more exposed than the rest and was charged by the Austrian cavalry, but the columns in the centre, during the fight near Arlon the future general Claude François Duprès, then only a lieutenant, distinguished himself by capturing a whole Austrian company. During this time, Pierre Raphaël Paillot de Beauregard was marching on Arlon from the right,400 carabiniers attacked a square of 1,500 Austrians. Several volleys of grapeshot, fired at only 50 footsteps from the front of the square, threw it into disorder and the carabiniers finished routing it. Arlon remained in French hands and the set up its base there, but its capture was of no use to the besieged troops in Mainz. The French suffered 900 killed and wounded, Austrian losses were fewer at 600 killed, wounded and captured. The French also captured five artillery pieces and four ammunition wagons, during the battle, Captain Jean-Barthélemot Sorbiers horse artillery company carried out an artillery charge, first, Sorbier unlimbered his guns and fired at a range of 800 yards. The guns were then limbered up and brought closer to the enemy before being unlimbered and fired again and this procedure was repeated at ever-decreasing ranges until the cannons were delivering a very destructive fire at close range. Général de Jomini, Histoire critique et militaire des campagnes de la Révolution, A. Hugo, Histoire des armées françaises de 1792 à1837, P. Giguet, Histoire militaire de la France, clerget, Tableaux des armées françaises pendant les guerres de la Révolution. The Art of War in the Age of Napoleon, Austrian Generals of 1792-1815, Schroder, Gottfried
27.
Siege of Valenciennes (1793)
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The Siege of Valenciennes took place between 13 June and 28 July 1793, during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition. The French garrison under Jean Henri Becays Ferrand was blockaded by part of the army of Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, commanded by the Prince Frederick, Duke of York, Valenciennes fell on 28 July, resulting in an Allied victory. Many of the French who had driven from Famars took refuge in the fortified town of Valenciennes. It took a fortnight before heavy guns could be forward, but on 13 June trenches were finally dug. 25,000 men undertook the siege, protected by an army of 30,000. The siege operations of the Austrians proceeded at a slow pace, fitzgerald wrote He sharply remonstrated with them, and in return was reproved for his excessive zeal. On 26 July, the main hornworks on the Eastern side were stormed by three columns, one of them of British troops, yorks chief of staff Murray wrote, The keeping of the hornwork was entirely owing to us putting the Duke of York at the head. Repeated orders were sent by General Ferraris to evacuate it, following the fall of the hornwork Valenciennes surrendered on 28 July, the garrison being allowed to leave with the honours of war minus their weapons and munitions. The French regulars consisted of two battalions of the 29th Line Infantry Regiment and one each of the 75th and 87th Regiments. The infantry battalions counted between 400 and 600 soldiers each, York was proclaimed as a saviour by the population of the town, which trampled the tricolour underfoot and declared him King of France. Brown, Robert, An impartial Journal of a Detachment from the Brigade of Foot Guards, commencing 25 February,1793, burne, Alfred, The Noble Duke of York, The Military Life of Frederick Duke of York and Albany, London, Staples Press. Fortescue, Sir John, British Campaigns in Flanders 1690-1794, London, French Forces, Siege of Valenciennes, March 1793. United States Army Combined Arms Center, Officer of the Guards, An, An Accurate and Impartial Narrative of the War, by an Officer of the Guards, London. Thiers, M, A History of the French Revolution, London
28.
Siege of Dunkirk (1793)
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Following a Coalition defeat at the Battle of Hondshoote they were forced to raise the siege and withdraw northeast. The plan to besiege Dunkirk was taken not by military commanders, right from the beginning of the campaign Dundas had considered the possession of Dunkirk as desirable, both as a bargaining counter in peace negotiations and as a potential British base in Europe. Nevertheless, York obediently followed instructions and through the days of August 1793 moved rapidly north-west. The Advance Guard consisting of the Austrian Sztáray Infantry Regiment Nr.33, not only were the French surprised by Yorks advance, Dunkirks defences were in a dilapidated condition. The town would most likely have fallen quickly had the promised Royal Navy fleet arrived on time, an English civilian witness wrote to the Public Advertiser that the town would have surrendered outright had it not been for Commissioners arriving from Paris to prevent it. Meanwhile, in Paris the election of Lazare Carnot and Pierre Louis Prieur to the Committee of Public Safety was to have beneficial consequences for the Republican field armies. Historian Burne indicates these reinforcements were the former garrison of Valenciennes. Jourdan was then transferred to command troops at the Cassel entrenched camp, with the able assistance of his chief of staff, the young Lazare Hoche, Souham, and later Jacques Ferrand were able to act vigorously to bolster the demoralised defenders. On the 24th Yorks reserve column under the Austrian Feldmarschall-Leutnant Graf Eduard dAlton took the suburb of Rosenthal, fortescue says York lost almost 400 casualties, though the Officer of the Guards gives returns as Austrians 170, British 74 and Hessians 55 killed and wounded. The casualties included dAlton, who was shot and killed towards the end of the day, thereafter Yorks command began entrenching in a line from Tetteghem to the sea. Confidence was high, however York was about to face a number of disappointments, Dundas had omitted to provide York with adequate equipment for a siege, and most importantly no heavy siege artillery. Siege guns had been due to arrive at Nieuport on the 26th, on 27 August, transports arrived to disembark the gun crews but no guns. On 30 August Admiral John MacBride arrived to coordinate naval operations, though he could ill afford it, York dispatched six squadrons of Hessian cavalry to bolster the Dutch line. York was in a difficult position, Souham had opened the town sluices, which slowly inundated the fields connecting York to Freytag and filled British trenches on the dunes with two feet of water. In the end the British were only able to find ordnance by disarming a frigate at Furnes, on 6 September Houchard led the French forces at the Cassel entrenched camp against Freytags covering Hanoverian corps at the Battle of Hondshoote. On the same day the defenders of Dunkirk made a sally in order to pin down Yorks command. One of the killed this day was Yorks chief of Engineers Colonel James Moncrief, on Yorks left flank Freytags Hanoverians were eventually driven back to the town of Hondschoote. Since Freytag was wounded and briefly captured by the French before being rescued, Johann Ludwig, on the 8th Houchard attacked and forced Wallmoden to withdraw in the Battle of Hondschoote after a very hard defence
29.
Siege of Le Quesnoy (1793)
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After two and a half week siege, the French capitulated after suffering heavy losses. The War of the First Coalition operation was fought at Le Quesnoy, after the successful Sieges of Condé and Valenciennes, the Coalition divided their forces. While an Austrian army laid siege to Le Quesnoy, a British-led army marched west to the coast to operate against Dunkirk, on 11 September, two French columns marched to the relief of Le Quesnoy. The force from Cambrai on the west came to grief in the Battle of Avesnes-le-Sec while the force from Maubeuge was also repelled, the Le Quesnoy garrison laid down their arms on 13 September, but the Siege of Dunkirk was a total failure. Undeterred, the Austrian host next laid siege to Maubeuge, leading to the Battle of Wattignies in mid-October, the Coalition besieging force under the Count of Clerfayt numbered about 18,000 troops in 24 battalions and 10 squadrons. There were five Austrian grenadier battalions, those of Attems, Sinoth, Ulm, the Austrian line infantry included two battalions each of Infantry Regiments Archduke Charles Nr. 17, Grand Duke of Tuscany Nr,29, Erbach Nr.42 and Stain Nr. 50, and one battalion of Infantry Regiment Beaulieu Nr.59, the Austrian cavalry comprised four squadrons of the Latour Chevau-léger Regiment Nr.31 and two squadrons of the Barco Hussar Regiment Nr.35. The French Royalist cavalry included two squadrons each of the Bérchény and Saxe Hussars, the Coalition admitted losses of 208 killed and wounded during the siege. The French lost about 1,000 killed out of a garrison of 5,000 troops, the 4,000 survivors became prisoners of war. The Armies of the First French Republic, Volume I The Armée du Nord
Republican France
Habsburg Austria
